Jharkhand assembly polls announced: Opposition hopeful of ousting BJP govt

Voting will be held in five phases from Nov 30 to Dec 20. FILE PIC/AFP

New Delhi: Jharkhand assembly polls will be held in five phases between November 30 and December 20, and the votes will be counted on December 23, the Election Commission said on Friday.

Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora told reporters that the polls to 81-member assembly will be held on November 30, December 7, 12, 16 and 20. The assembly polls in the Naxalism-affected state were held in five phases in 2014 as well.

The BJP is in power the state, which has a large tribal population, and an alliance of Opposition parties, mainly the Congress and the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, is making a determined bid to oust the government headed by Chief Minister Raghubar Das.

The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) and the Congress, on Friday supported continuation of the pre-Lok Sabha opposition alliance in the November-December state polls. The JMM, Congress, Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik) and EJD had fought the Lok Sabha polls in the state in alliance.

Both the JMM and Congress are hopeful that the Lok Sabha Opposition alliance will continue for the state polls too. Thirteen constituencies will go to the polls in the first phase, 20 in the second, 17 in the third, 15 in the fourth and 16 constituencies will go to polls in the fifth phase.

With the Jharkhand polls coming on the heels of assembly elections in Maharashtra and Haryana, its result will be keenly followed as political watchers believe that the Opposition has been emboldened by the outcome in the two states where its numbers have been better than expectations.

Das is the first state chief minister to have completed the full term of five years in the state, long plagued by fractured mandate and unstable governments.

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